Shoddy Camerawork

[AJ1981]

Having been a regular viewer of WWF/WWE television since 1990, one of my favourite aspects has been it's TV production values which have always been fields ahead of the rest of the industry.
However recently I have had my enjoyment hampered by some awful camerawork/direction. The first time I really noticed it was at Royal Rumble, which had multiple issues,the director deciding to focus on Roman Reigns face rather than a wider shot during AJ Styles debut and multiple eliminations and spots were missed as well. Since then I've noticed that this is frequently happening on RAW, spots are being missed or poor camera angles being used or rapid cuts to different cameras being made when a hard camera shot would capture everything better. This happens less on Smackdown as they have time to edit after taping.
Triple H said in an interview a year or so ago that WWE are training new production staff and cameraman for the future and it could be down to that but does anyone else find this annoying?

 

[Navi]

Yea the Rumble was kind of a disaster with too much time being spent on the LON and Reigns outside the ring. A few of us on the LD thread complained that they actually stopped showing the match just to watch that going on. If the Wyatt's could interfere with Lesnar in the ring, then why not have the LON do the same thing.

What I was waiting for the whole match was Kofi Kingston's feat of not landing on the floor when he was thrown out. The camera managed to catch Big E catching him on his shoulders, but we missed his elimination by Styles. It was shown later on a replay, but we were wondering where he went in the meantime. With lot's going on they will miss things here and there, but the WWE makes a big deal about Kofi and his ability to save himself, it's one of the biggest ups and downs of the whole Rumble.

These cameramen can't have easy jobs especially the ones with hand held camera's. They have to stay out of the way of the wrestlers but still manage to get what's happening. Not a job I would want.

 

[@smarkmouth]

Keep in mind that the cameramen are doing just fine, but the producer backstage is not airing from the correct vantage point.

SummerSlam 2014 had the greatest offense in poor production, in my opinion. The producer was focused on showing a replay, and those at home missed Lesnar sit up like the Undertaker in his match against Cena. Definitely not an easy job, but it's frustrating when we feel robbed of these wonderful moments.

 

[Fugazi]

Kevin Dunn.

This is the man responsible and he's been absolutely ruining WWE TV. I Want to say it's just his fault, and it probably is, but there is also the issue of camera men moving around in the middle of promos. Rock returned on the RAW after rumble and i almost got dizzy because when he was in the ring the camera guy kept moving around. I know rock cant stand still, but the camera is in the hand of a human being, not on a tripod that needs to be moved around to get the "best" angle. I also notice this a bit during backstage promos when the person giving the promo is standing still. They camera man will subtly sway back and forth for no reason.

Another thing is shaky cam, something we see in action films. There isn't so much of this that it would drive you nuts but i do notice it from time to time and it's stupid.

The final issue is of course which angle is being broadcasted, and that's Kevin Dunn, in fact Kevin Dunn leads the production for RAW and stuff so it's easy to assume he told the camera men to "move around" and to "shake the camera" at certain times.

All in all, the product is suffering. Dunn seems to be sufferring from dementia in his old age and needs to be let go. I know Dunn's dad saved some old video tapes in a fire and the McMahon family feels they need to show their appreciation, but they really need fresh blood in there as far as that stuff goes.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The Reigns thing was on purpose, as the music was unfamiliar, they also wanted to get his reaction to the pop and seeing the Tron with AJ's name... then they cut to show AJ coming out so we can see what the crowd is so jazzed and Reigns so shocked over...

I don't think camera work has gone down particularly, but remember they have that programme with Full Sail as part of NXT, so it's entirely possible some newer guys are hoilding the cameras and running the feed... at worst that's what it's likely to be.. and don't complain too much... cos of this we saw Titus and Vince for example...

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Kevin Dunn.

This is the man responsible and he's been absolutely ruining WWE TV. I Want to say it's just his fault, and it probably is, but there is also the issue of camera men moving around in the middle of promos. Rock returned on the RAW after rumble and i almost got dizzy because when he was in the ring the camera guy kept moving around. I know rock cant stand still, but the camera is in the hand of a human being, not on a tripod that needs to be moved around to get the "best" angle. I also notice this a bit during backstage promos when the person giving the promo is standing still. They camera man will subtly sway back and forth for no reason.

Another thing is shaky cam, something we see in action films. There isn't so much of this that it would drive you nuts but i do notice it from time to time and it's stupid.

The final issue is of course which angle is being broadcasted, and that's Kevin Dunn, in fact Kevin Dunn leads the production for RAW and stuff so it's easy to assume he told the camera men to "move around" and to "shake the camera" at certain times.

All in all, the product is suffering. Dunn seems to be sufferring from dementia in his old age and needs to be let go. I know Dunn's dad saved some old video tapes in a fire and the McMahon family feels they need to show their appreciation, but they really need fresh blood in there as far as that stuff goes.

This 100% covers what's been going on with WWE production for the last 20-30 years.

Kevin Dunn believes he's above working in the WWE in a 'wrasslin' company, so he makes it as much of a 'sports entertainment' company as he can. He's the reason the terms wrestling fans are used to aren't used anymore or are frowned upon being used by newer talent. He's the reason for the shitty production that's happened over the last few years with the awful camera work that tries to make the action look more intense. All it does is make it look cheap, which the WWE has a great budget to produce its content, so using some of the techniques used lately doesn't make any sense.

The camera work at the Royal Rumble was an atrocity. Nobody cared what Roman Reigns reaction was to AJ Styles coming out. How about catching the fans reaction to Styles debut? They also missed about three spots where either Reigns or someone else nearly went out. Cole had it on commentary, but the camera's never caught it. That's on the Executive Producer of WWE... which is Kevin Dunn.

And there's no hope of Dunn ever being fired until Vince is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of WWE, because Vince is loyal to Dunn's father, who was also a producer for the old WWWF and helped save a whole lot of the tapes in WWE's personal library when their warehouse caught on fire.

He rubs every wrestling purist in the company the wrong way, including HHH, who I'm almost positive hates Dunn's work and lack of respect for pro wrestling's golden days.

 

[MERPER]

I can't say the camera work has drastically changed over time and I began watching around 1990 like you.

Sure there are some mistakes, especially with the switches at big moments of matches since RAW is live (don't notice them much on Smackdown since they can edit them out).

I have noticed what you're talking about and simply chalked it up to age. I'm not 6, 7, 8 years old anymore where I don't know it's fake stuff going on in the ring and am not looking at things with a mature and adult brain.

Now, in my 30's, I notice camera angles and switches. I notice a botched move and bad punches and I can pinpoint not only the exact camera move/switch that made a move better or worse but also can tell WHY it occurred.

So, long rant short, i think it's just that you've grown up and aren't so easily fooled anymore.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Remember HD is a big difference too... When WWE started filming in it, for the first few weeks it looked horrid, and a lot of things had to change in how guys did things. As 4k and other tech comes online, it's gonna be harder to maintain that illusion.

On the plus side, I really liked this years Mania "face off" media... very UFC-legit fight rather than the old staged overlays... so that side of things is improving.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Having been a regular viewer of WWF/WWE television since 1990, one of my favourite aspects has been it's TV production values which have always been fields ahead of the rest of the industry.
However recently I have had my enjoyment hampered by some awful camerawork/direction. The first time I really noticed it was at Royal Rumble, which had multiple issues,the director deciding to focus on Roman Reigns face rather than a wider shot during AJ Styles debut and multiple eliminations and spots were missed as well. Since then I've noticed that this is frequently happening on RAW, spots are being missed or poor camera angles being used or rapid cuts to different cameras being made when a hard camera shot would capture everything better. This happens less on Smackdown as they have time to edit after taping.
Triple H said in an interview a year or so ago that WWE are training new production staff and cameraman for the future and it could be down to that but does anyone else find this annoying?

I never really gave it a second thought until I read this paragraph, it was there, stored in the back of my head...now that I've dug it out, it's kind of annoying. (The Camera spots)

There was an important part....story wise to Roman Reigns getting attacked by LON during the Rumble....but what we missed was Kofi Kingston doing one of his stunts on the other side of the ring and the stunt going wrong in some comedy antic-type way making the crowds laugh.....but we missed all of that because Rusev splashed Roman through a table. There were two planned events going on at the same time, I guess you can't blame cameramen for that, just the planning department.

There are other times when the camera zooms in for an action-impact angle, unwanted and not appealing to the eye, that only works if an attack is coming from out of nowhere---like an R.K.O for example. Any other time it's an annoying kick to the eyes.